


When Sally Jackson Made Good Use of Medusa's Head

by trashofalltrades



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Badass Sally jackson, F/M, Implied abuse, Murder, The Last Olympian, family story time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 02:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10935507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashofalltrades/pseuds/trashofalltrades
Summary: Paul knows about the crazy world of myths and gods. Now he's about to be reminded just how awesome Sally Jackson is.





	When Sally Jackson Made Good Use of Medusa's Head

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChimaeraKitten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChimaeraKitten/gifts).



> ChimaeraKitten and I had a conversation about this a while ago and we both found it hilarious. So I obviously had to write about it.  
> The story takes place during the conversation with Sally and Paul in The Last Olympian, and where the direct quotes come from.

The problem with giant dogs is that they shed a lot. Watching Clifford had never prepared Percy for this reality.

Currently Paul, Sally, Nico, and Percy were seated at the kitchen table, trying to keep hellhound hair out of their lemonade while Mrs. O’ Leary watched from the doorway and made the whole house shake as she wagged her tail.

“Sorry about the mess,” Percy said sheepishly.

Paul laughed. “Are you kidding? This is great! When I saw the hoofprints on the Prius I thought maybe, but this!”

Percy smiled. He and Sally had filled Paul in the previous Autumn, but he was glad that he definitely believed them now.

“Yeah, sorry about your car. Do you think your insurance covers pegasi?”

 “I guess we’ll see. It would be _hoove_ them to.”

Everyone groaned. There was a reason Paul was an English teacher.

“Anyway, thanks for not freaking out,” Percy said.

Paul’s eyes were wide. “I am freaking out. This is awesome!”

Well then we haven’t really struck the proper fear into you yet,” Percy joked. He turned to Sally and Nico. “Any terrifying story ideas?”

Sally sighed. “They’re all terrifying.”

Nico looked over at him. “Wouldn’t just telling them about the plan work?”

“The _plan_ ” Sally asked, eyeing Percy.

Percy shook his head, ignoring her comment. “Yeah, but we haven’t gotten there yet- I need something that’s not new information.”

The two of them threw out a slew of suggestions.

“Minotaur.”

“The Arch.”

“The golden fleece.”

“Holding up the _sky_.”

“Kronos.”

“Nearly dying every time you leave the house. See all this gray hair! it’s from you!” Sally said, shaking her finger in Percy’s direction in mock annoyance.

“Then she’s really not gonna like the plan,” Nico muttered, causing Percy to kick him under the table.

“Okay, okay I get the point.” He thought for a moment.  “Oh, what about Gabe,” he said, a new gleam in his eye.

“Percy…” Sally warned, her lips drawn into a thin line.

“Gabe?” Paul asked, confused.

“Yeah. She straight up murdered him. It was awesome.”

“What?” Paul looked between them, surprisingly calm, but with his eyebrows nearly in his hairline.

“PERCY!” Sally cried. “We went over this! I wanted to tell him in private at the right time!”

“Like doing it alone would make it any better? At least now you have Nico and I here as witnesses to give him peace of mind.”

“I’m not going to murder him!” she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “Besides! You provided me with the murder weapon!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Paul said, holding up a hand and taking a deep breath.

He turned to Sally. “This is true? You killed him?”

“Yes.” she said simply, her chin tipped up, as if she was daring Paul to take issue with it. “I did.”

She slowly extended her hand across the table, testing the waters and seeking reassurance that he didn't think her a monster.

Paul hesitated only a moment, but in that time Sally’s face crumpled, her bravado fading.

He reached across and grabbed her hand. “ Hey, it’s okay.”

She looked up. “ You know I would never.” She said her voice low and insistent. “What he did-you’re not like him.”

He squeezed her hand in acknowledgement. “I know.” he said, angry, but not at Sally. He hadn't pushed for much information, bur there was a reason she and Percy were both so cautious early on, and why Sally still detested conflict. 

“So…” Percy broke in awkwardly. “Now that we’ve established you won’t kill Paul, can we explain what happened.

The pair looked over at him, causing him to sink down in his chair.

“What? I know you didn’t want me to-“

“No, you’re right.” she turned back to Paul. “I don’t regret killing him. But I do regret not telling you sooner.”

“What the hell actually happened?”

“Well it starts with Percy. He _did_ provide me with the murder weapon…”

 

 

From there the story unfolded.

 “So basically I decapitated Medusa and-"

 “ _The_  Medusa?!”

  “Yep. She tried to turn me to stone and all that. Annabeth told me to keep it as a war trophy and I sent it to Poseidon.”

 Paul made a face. “I can’t believe he called me blowfish.”

Sally laughed. “Don’t take it personally, dear. His focus was never very far from the sea.”

“Anyway,” Percy continued, “Poseidon sent it back to me. And when I came home from camp that first summer,” he said, his face hardening, “Well, Gabe was being Gabe. And I offered the head to her.”

Paul’s eyes widened as the realization dawned on him. “Ohhhhhh.”

“A devilish grin spread across Sally’s face. “‘Oh’ is right. I didn’t want to use it at first, and I especially didn’t want Percy to march out then and there to do it.”

“But I would have,” he said darkly.

“No, I knew I needed to do this myself. Percy left the box behind when he left. And then I finally kicked my butt into gear.”

“How’d you actually do it?” Nico asked, chucking the remains of whatever was in the fridge to Mrs. O’Leary, causing her tail to thump even harder.

“It was easy,” she said, her voice full of pure spite. “A little while later I called Gabe for dinner and whipped out good ol’ Medusa. He turned to stone and then I sold his statue and got enough money to get a new apartment and go to NYU.

There was silence for a moment as Paul stared at her with a mix of awe and amusement.

“So, just to be clear, you murdered your abusive husband. Sold his statue. And then used the money to go to college and learn to write?”

“Yes. Though you forgot to add that I also met you at NYU”

“Wow. I- just-wow,” he said smiling at Sally. “Try working this one into your book.”

“And the irony,” Percy said. “Who would have thought Smelly Gabe would bring people together?”

 

 

 

After Paul had sorted everything out, the group took a break for lemonade refills before diving into the next story about what was currently happening back at camp.

“Is the story to _die_ for?” Paul asked, causing more groans and an evil-eye from Nico.

“That was bad,” Percy said, shaking his head,  “but we will be going the Underworld.” In reality Paul’s pun was closer to the truth than Percy would have liked to admit. The “end of days” line of the prophesy and the high potential for their plan failing- well, he wasn’t going to think about it.

 They left the house somber, but with Sally’s blessing to visit the River Styx.

Nico smiled at Percy as he hoped up on Mrs. O’Leary’s back, preparing to shadow travel.

“Your mom is a badass.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sally is awesome, but she also doesn't get paid enough for dealing with Percy's frequent near-death experiences.  
> For me this is one of the coolest/ most vengeful moments of the series. I'm planning on writing about it again...


End file.
